Jess and I had tucked ourselves into an alcove behind a humming ventilation unit so we were not visible to any of the office windows. Up this high, no one should be able to see us from the ground and with the lip on the building, we shouldn’t be visible to the people in the multi-story. We'd climbed the carpark stairs and made a small jump onto the flat roof of the office. Even that small jump had felt like a mile. I didn’t fear heights, but I did have the sensible fear of hitting the ground very fast.
Now in position, I set to work breaching the inter systems. Nat was still in the car park keeping a lookout. Grunting, I said, "Get comfortable, this is going to take a while, they are far better."
20 minutes later and I was still at it, having made no progress. "Shit!" I whisper shouted.
Jess looked over, spooked. "What?"
"I can't get in, the ICE is too good."
"So that's it then? We need to break in with Billy?"
"Not exactly." I said slowly. "I was just trying to hack using the keyboard and screen. But I can do a full dive."
"Buuuut?" Jess said leadingly
"But it is obviously more dangerous."
And something I had been avoiding longer than I should have. It wasn’t fear that had stopped me from netrunning the systems, maybe complacency. I hadn't needed to until now. Either way, this might be the kick up the backside to get started.
Nat cut in, having heard me on the open channel, her voice steady and calm. 'Can you get in that way, yes or no?'
Could I? I had practised enough at the Forge, impressing even Avery. But I had never done it when there were actually consequences. I weighed my options before deciding. "Yes."
"Then you know what to do—as long as the risk is not too high!" She added quickly after.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself. "Okay Jess, gently nudge me if we need to move, as we practised at the Forge."
Taking a few steadying breaths, I plugged in my interface cable snaking from my wrist and slotted it into the cyberdeck. A wave of static rushed up my body. Not enough to stand my hairs on end, but it tingled. My deck was a pretty standard one with only 10 memory Units (MU) of space. Poorer ones might have as little as 2, and rumours were elites had as much as 40 MU space. It also had a level 3 datawall, which again, was almost the base levels, but it was better than nothing.
I had improved it from the level 2 it started as. To improve it further, I would need specialised tools and hardware. Not something I had been able to acquire just yet. I'd hoped to find them in some of the raids we went on, but no luck.
I could have paid someone to do it. But that quickly stacked up, and if my deck was going to be improved, it would be me doing it. Not some random gonk I didn’t know.
With only 10 MU, I was limited on how many programmes I could have installed on my deck at one time. A clear advantage of net-rigs, the posh ones that was. They could have extra memory or CPU and more datawalls to protect against cyberattacks. This is what allowed a mediocre corpo deckheads to compete with the best.
That and their cutting-edge ICE.
I took the time to check my deck and made sure I had the correct programs installed. Once I started the run, I wouldn’t be able to change them again unless I retreated from the net architecture. This would reset it and allow the programs to rerez, basically making me have to start from scratch once more.
Since I wasn't in a rush, taking the 5 to 10 minutes needed to change 1 of my programs wasn’t the end of the world. I had bought a few new programmes over the last year. Mostly as examples, because what I could buy was old shit that was well solved by this point. Some I had just left as they were, with them not worth the effort in changing or still out of my skill level. Otherwise, I rewrote as many as possible. Not all the results were an upgrade, but with time, that improved and by now I was confident my ICE were at least on par with what I had bought.
I had [Shield], [Invisibility], [Crystal Ball] and [BackupTM] for 4MU. They were almost always in my deck as they offered the best bang for my buck. Shield and Invisibility gave me protection if attacked (although not very strong), and the others, the ability to search and then copy any data I found onto a shard, or control cameras.
The [invisibility] was my most used, allowing me to slip through unnoticed. I hoped it would keep me off anyone's radar like Netwatch. I kept meaning to make my own more heavy-duty version, but I hadn't quite gotten around to it yet.
Creating ICE was no easy process and took weeks, if not months of coding. I'd only been able to make as much progress as I had because of testing the ICE on Avery's net.
The last 2 were attack and intrusions ICE. Hopefully I wouldn't need the attack programme, but it made me feel safer. It was an anti-program destroyer cleverly called [Killer II], which meant it could only target other ICE. It was a bulky programme though, at 5 MU. Another reason to spend the months required to optimise it.
Finally as my intrusion ICE I'd installed my modified worm programme, called [termite]. The base [worm] ICE might be stronger, but it was much louder. My termite was slower and couldn’t crack as powerful datawalls, but was far stealthier, which was far more important to me at this point.
I had to spend a good few weeks optimising them too, so they could actually fit into my deck as otherwise they were 4 MU each. Luckily I managed to get them down to 2.
As prepared as possible, I slipped on my wreath. They sprang to life with the digital world overlaying the real. A tingle flowed along my nerves throughout my body, like pins and needles.
The citinet couldn’t support runners, still not strong or connected enough, so my surroundings stayed dark, with just the office net appearing. I appeared in a blank void, it stretching off into the distance, with a neon-lit digital grids snaking its way through the void like motorways. The only small bursts of visible light were the icons of access points to other nets. Only visible up to the edge of my [scan] range.
The brightest of which were the ones for the office right in front of me.
They were closest, so it made sense.
Each icon represented something in cyberspace, be that a programme or a digital item in the real world. For example, the camera above me had an icon of a creepy floating eyeball. But further away, in another building with its own architecture, the camera looked like a proud bald eagle. Its icon, incredibly lifelike, suggesting it was far better or at least the net it was connected to was stronger or dedicating more processing power to it.
Everything in cyberspace had an icon. Be that cameras or data storage. The icon normally routed back to what the thing it represented was; for example, data storage might be represented as filing cabinets. With skill and compromises that could be changed.
It was the same for me with my avatar. It had my full digital footprint attached to it and therefore, looked humanoid. Not a detailed one mind. I didn’t have enough presence in cyberspace to have a more detailed one yet. My hardware also wasn’t powerful enough to support it.
But it was this data trail that might lead others back to me, or at least track me. Hence the importance of [invisibility].
I had not been able to afford the services of a specialised fixer called a shoemaker to change my digital identity. It wasn’t particularly important right now, particularly with the old net down. But I would still rather not have any paper trails pointing at me if I could help it.
It was high on my list when we had a better income. Along with half a dozen other things, like getting a new home away from the gang. I didn't see us staying with the gang long term. It already felt we were starting to outgrow it and I had no intention of joining the Armstrongs, or any other gang for that matter.
Now connected to the net my avatar could be seen by others active in the architecture, so best not fuck about.
Ignoring the external cameras since I had already looped them, I focused on the internal systems. Peaking round, I spotted what I was going to hack, a fire alarm sensor—which looked like a small candle in cyberspace, right next to the window, so well within reach. That was an important consideration. I could only be a couple of meters away and in line of sight before the connection became unstable or even broke.
Gone were the days of a runner freely moving through the world. Maybe one day the Net would be back up, but it looked unlikely. All attempts to reclaim the old net had failed. Disastrously so if the stories were to be believed.
Interfacing with the sensor, I was now at the edge of the office's architecture, but not technically inside it yet. They wouldn't be alerted to my presence unless a hostile deckhead saw me. It was only when I tried to enter it would the ICE be able to detect me.
Before heading in, I activated the programs I could in advance. A light blue shield a meter across shimmered into place in front of me. I had practised and could now gently move it with my mind. Once it was rezed and stable, it vanished along with my avatar when [invisibility] was activated.
Rezing the [termite], I directed it to the datawall which was blocking my path. I ignored the code gate (looking like a metal sliding door), which was how authorised traffic would enter, with the known password. The datawall was pockmarked and rusted, so it clearly had seen better days. Still, the government's reluctance to spend money to update the defences only helped me.
Unfortunately, I saw no holes in the wall that would allow me to slip straight through.
It was probably too much to ask for that much incompetence.
A small brown insect, with glowing blue eyes and emitting a small beeping sound, wriggled its way over to the wall before burrowing into it. Cracks slowly spread out from its entry point all along the wall, signifying the damage my intrusion program was doing. Eventually a hole big enough for me to enter formed. This did mean that if someone or thing saw this hole, it was obvious something was up. So I was on a timer.
Still, I was in.
What had taken me 15 minutes to get to before took me less than 5 seconds.
It just went to show how much faster actual netrunning was than old-school hacking.
Looking in front of me was the ICE that had stopped me in my tracks. A small glowing orb, with a tiny eye, crackling with energy, floated in my path. A [Wisp], an anti-personnel programme that targeted runners, technically a black ICE in that it was potentially lethal ICE, but as weak as it was, it was still called an ICE. In meat space, it just destroyed any hacking attempts, but now in cyberspace, we were on even footing. This did come with the minor drawback of it being able to directly attack me.
With enough attacks the small, unassuming programme could cause me irreparable harm if not flatline me.
I carefully inspected it, looking for any weaknesses or other threats, before I made my move. I grinned, relief flooding through me. Like the datawall, it was old software. Iteration 7.65cP in fact.
The longer a piece of software was out in the public domain, the more solved the ICE would be. With more people knowing its weaknesses and therefore weakening it in the Net. This was particularly bad if it had any egregious bugs or exploits. Without the full Net, this was less of a problem as it spread slower but it was still a problem. This was less of a thing if it was your personal programme and not shared around. Which meant it could take years before you need to update it to patch any holes or exploit people might have found.
Luckily this was a part of 100s of old programs in the info booklets I bought from Boxy. In cyberspace, knowledge was power. Therefore, knowing a weakness was like knowing a weak point allowing you to score a critical hit or even cause a cascading failure.
Directing my [Killer II] program to attack, it automatically modulated itself to target the weak points. The [Killer II ]'s icon, a large masked humanoid robot with glowing red eyes, materialised and stalked forward. Its glowing red katana slashed out, slicing through the ICE.
As soon as it hit, the [invisibility] faded and my avatar rippled into view. The [wisp] immediately tried to target me, but the [Killer II] maintained its assault.
Slashing a second time which, a red trail left in the sword's wake, slammed into the [wisp], its icon fractured into pixels and disappeared. Laughing, I did a victory dance and fist pumped in meat space. My first real cyber fight. That was ace. Shaking myself slightly, I focused. I was not finished yet. Rezing my [invisibility] I headed deeper in search of the data I needed.
The government had really skimped out.
I passed through the next few nodes unchallenged and found a node stacked floor to ceiling with filing cabinets.
I might have found my target.
Booting up the [BackupTM], it whizzed through the data, searching, scanning and copying all the relevant data onto the data chip, inserted into my neck port. The chip had a limit to what it could store, which was far less than I would have liked. But quantity came to the rescue and once it was filled, I simply paused my downloading and unslotted it to slot another. Halfway through the second chip, I had everything I needed.
Grinning, I stopped the ICE riffling through the cabinets, before hesitating.
I could get out now and they might never know someone had breached their systems. It depended on whether they saw the damage to their data wall before it finished sealing. Even if they did discover it, they would struggle to determine what I had taken, unless they had a netrunner investigate that was significantly better I was. Unlikely by the state of the net.
Once I left, if I ever needed to get back in here, I would need to start again. However... if I were to carry on and reach the mainframe or the heart of the net, I would be able to take control of the core node. With that, I would have complete control over the net. I'd be able to reset it so no one would know I was in and give myself a backdoor in case I ever needed it.
Well worth the risk. The net was so weak it would be a waste not to poke a bit further in. They might update their systems in the future. There were talks on the news that the government was trying to. But if I could get a backdoor in now…
Taking another deep breath, I asked, 'Aden: Any movement? I have what we need, but would like to go a bit deeper.'
Nat crackled in my ear, 'Nat: No everything seems calm.'
Considering for a bit I committed. 'Okay I am going deeper. Let me know if there are any changes.' Focusing back to the googles, I directed my avatar deeper.
I made the right choice; there were only a few other datawalls that the [termite] breached with ease and a few other equally old ICE in my way before I reached the control node. As soon as I defeated the ICE guarding the main node, I interfaced with it and got to work.
First, I refreshed everything, hiding my passage and then started to make the virus that would give me the back door into the system.
I had some practice on this; it was a fairly common tactic so I knew what I was doing, but the net proved trickier than I was expecting. The age and poor condition of the net working against me for once. It was a tangled mess, but 5 minutes later, I had the virus and released it. I monitored it and once I was happy, nodded to myself, then left the architecture.
"Finished, is the cost clear?" I asked.
"Hold up, someone is looking out a window further up, wait for it, wait for it, okay, go all clear."
"Thank God! My butt has gone to sleep." Jess grumbled as we jumped up and raced across the roof to meet up with Nat in the car park.
----
Catching the eye of Elli as we stepped into the entryway, I gave a small nod and could immediately see him relax. He almost oozed into Billy, who was sitting next to him.
Turning to the girls, "Go over to them and give them the deets. I am going to get my laptop so we can look through the data we got." I had a proper workstation, a Zetatech PS-4040 which I did most of my work on, but having a laptop was just useful, particularly the EBM PCX, which was a bit beefier than most laptops. I got it from one of the many raids we had been on.
With it in hand, I made my way back over and plopped onto the sagging sofa. Firing up the laptop, I pulled out the data chips from my shard bank, a hardened case to protect against damage. It claimed it could even stop a bullet, not that I planned to ever test that claim.
"Okay, let's see what we have here." I connected the data storage to a chip slot on the laptop and started to flick through it. I removed and saved most of what I had grabbed to look at later, but for now, I just zoomed through to what my ICE had flagged. "Ace, here it is. I have sent it to your agents."
"Preem!" Billy shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Adrian! Grab a few people, we have an address to case. You coming Eli?" having seen Eli not move.
He frowned thoughtfully for a sec. "Naa, you go, I want to get a few things ready."
"Preem will see you when I get back, don’t wait up." he said, laughing as he walked away.
I glanced at Eli who still had a frown. I shook my head—none of my business. Best not get involved. I finished packing up and was making my way to our room when Eli called from over my shoulder. "Aden, you got a mo? Just want to run something by you."
"Errr, yeah sure. Let me just get rid of the laptop and I will be right with you." I jogged to catch up to the girls. "Hey Jess, can you put my laptop away? Eli wants a word."
"Sure, think you will be long?"
"Naa he just wanted a minute, has something on his mind, looks like. Probably just wants to vent or something."
"Okay, but ping us if you are going to be longer." Nat said over her shoulder.
"Thanks." I shouted before making my way back to Eli, who was now standing by the sofas. "Where you want to talk?"
"Can we walk and talk, just down the tunnels, so not far."
Somewhat surprised, but I agreed. Maybe this was more serious than I thought.
We walked in silence, for so long in fact, I almost prodded him to start before seeing he was trying to think of a way to say it. Finally, I’d had enough. "Come on Eli, spit it out. You know it won't go any further than me if you ask."
Releasing an explosive sigh and stopped walking to lean against the wall. "If you can keep this between us? but I feel like I'm losing him. You saw him ask Adrian for help…"
---
I was fully geared and ready to roll, with a large backpack stuffed full of bits and pieces we had accumulated over the last few months. I still hadn't heard anything more about the info I grabbed for Billy almost a week ago. But that wasn’t uncommon.
Waiting for the girls, Nat had gone to find Jess, who was who knows where.
That girl. Shaking my head, I greeted Eli by the door.
"Where you off to?"
"Nomad Market." Seeing his raised eyebrow surprised. "Yeah, it’s a big one this week. Came in early. Word is they wanted to avoid the big football game. You know the zealots... I mean football fans will be out in force. Fuck being near them after a big game."
That was a good way to get caught in the crossfire. I wasn’t surprised he hadn't heard. While the market was one of the largest around, it was far to the south, near the edge of London and with Armstrong market just next door, most gangers did not need to make the trek out there.
I just preferred it. First, fewer people close to home knowing how well we were doing could only be a good thing. But the nomad market had a far better selection and if you knew what you were doing, you could get a far better price for things.
Eli nodded upstanding and we stood in comfortable silence for a while.
Eli's leg kept tapping away and he went to speak several times before cutting himself off.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I think I… " He paused again before taking a deep breath "Walk with me a sec." Leading me outside into the mostly deserted corridor. "I am thinking of splitting off from the gang."
"What!! Why!" I shouted spinning to face him.
Eli waved his hand. "Shhhh, I haven't fully decided yet. But I met another fixer. He caters to far more Merc work than gang affiliation like Boxy. He's plugged into the corpos, so is far more about quiet theft and info gathering."
Laughing, I said. "Not a fan of Boxy?"
"Mark my words, he is going to get himself flatlined. I've seen how he mouths off to clients these days. He's getting a big head. But here this is the fixer I'm talking about. Look him up. He seems on the level from everything I could find."
"Really, Boxy? He was always so careful." I said sarcastically, as my agent pinged with a contact information of the fixer.
"Don’t give me that. He has gone too high too quickly, mostly because of us, or rather you." Seeing my surprised look, Eli scoffed. "I don’t think you realise how good a netrunner you are for our level." I went to protest that, but he held up a hand. "I know you are nothing to the professionals, but for a small-time fixer and an even smaller gang, you are far better than we should have. I think Billy has forgotten how critical you were to our rise in reputation."
Fighting a blush, I never knew how to deal with compliments. "Thanks, so why are you leaving then?"
"I am not sure how much longer I can keep Billy from spiralling. Our chat the other day helped put it all into perspective. I keep telling him to stop getting more chipped in, but he is listening less and less. I mean, you've seen his recent strategies. Where is my quiet and careful planner gone? I will not die for his glory." Eli said firmly. Taking a deep breath, he carried on. "Would you follow me if I did go off and do my own thing?"
That was a big question. But one I didn’t need to think about.
"Yeah of course we would." I said, grinning and clapping him on the shoulder. Or more on the arm. He was always taller than I thought.
I couldn’t wait for my growth spurt. I'd better fucking have one. I would not live my life 5 feet tall.
"I assume you have a plan for where to go. We have an ace set up here. What with our home and the protection of the Armstrong Clan. And with what money? We have a nest egg, but not enough for a large group."
Signing in relief, Eli leaned in. "I have a nest egg." I got another message at this point telling me where it is. I gave him a look at that. This guy was crazy. Who would tell someone where their stash was? "I trust you. We have been through far too much not too. Anyway, I have had a look around and there are loads of places east of here. Near the Arcology."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Yeah when the Krash happened, loads of companies went under and their assets were picked up by the government and just left there rotting away. So there is a huge amount of land just sitting there. It might be used at some point, but I doubt it."
"Aden!" Jess shouted as she came charging towards us with Nat walking behind her. "Let's go. Go. Goooo!"
Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Eli as he said. "Don't mention it to anyone as I am still not sure or ready and it will not be for several months before I am."
I clasped his hand. "Sure Eli, if there is anything we can do to help…"
On the way to the market I explained what we had discussed. While I was all for keeping secrets, that never meant with the girls. I had seen one too many soap operas with the gang, where a simple conversation would have sorted out the entire episode in 5 minutes, to ever keep things from them. They agreed that they would love to follow him and no longer trusted Billy quite so much.
Eli had always been the guy I trusted anyway. The thinker rather than the loud, boisterous leader.
As we neared the market the quiet streets began to fill up until they were packed with people, with a larger and larger crowd as we closed in on the market. Not to mention the heavily armed gang presence. The Nomads had their own guards of course, but normally hired some of the large firms to provide extra security on the larger events. Their security from the Guild of the Stag Dancers already good enough in most cases. They were the unofficial police force of the Nomad community in the UK.
They normally protected important people, events and sites like Stonehenge. By the looks of it, the Firm and Yazura were this month's protection.
We joined the crowd flowing in. The market was a maze of narrow passages, 4ish people wide, with stalls on both sides. Not all were from the convoy; some were locals selling food or trinkets. There were also body artists, from face paint to tattoos and even cyberfasion as well as the usual mystics.
All of this blended into a cacophony of noise and energy. It was electrifying.
"Alright, let's get our stuff sold and see if there is anything we would like."
We sold our stuff quickly, not wanting to carry it around any longer. We might have been able to get a better deal for it, but I would rather just sell it and get it out of the way. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t find anything we really wanted. Most of the really good stuff would be sold at other private events like Night Markets.
We were nearing the end of our search with just a few last places we wanted to look at when a stall on our right caught my eye. It was loaded with data chips, the banner saying 'The Lost knowledge of the greet netrunners'.
He might have lost knowledge, but he obviously didn’t find a dictionary amongst them.
Probably bullshit, but it didn’t hurt looking.
I came up to him, catching the guy's eye. "What you sellin?"
He broke into a practised fake smile. "M'names Ned. And what I have is the lost knowledge from the great Rache Bartmos and Spider Mercer."
"Uh-huh, and they gave this to you, did they?"
He grinned and started to wave his hand animatedly. "No, this is stuff they released onto the net. I was just lucky I found a data chip that someone had pulled out before the net krashed. The best is this. A guide called Raiche Bartmoss Brainwave Blowout."
Now that was far more interesting and hopeful. "Just them or does it have more?"
"Oh, it had loads of guides, tips and tricks from coders to hackers. Not to mention guides for all your programming needs. Everything an aspiring netrunner like yourself might need." Flicking through it, it looked legit and significantly better than the stuff I got from Boxy all those years ago. "And how much will I be paying for the privilege?"
"1000 eddies and wor—"
Bursting out laughing, I cut him off. "1000, right. It's relatively interesting but not worth that much. 100."
Ned broke into another but more sincere smile this time, "You wound me." he said, clutching his heart.
A fierce bit of haggling later, and I had the data chips safely in my hardened case, tucked away in an inner jacket pocket. Turning to Jess, who was leaning against the table, "Alright girls are there any… Nat?" Looking around, my heart started to pump when I did not see her immediately. Then relaxed as I saw her at another stall a few down from us in deep conversation.
We made our way over with Jess bouncing on ahead. I looked over the girl Nat was talking to and the stall as well. Most of it was high-level components or heavily modded irons. Custom work by the looks of it, and good custom work at that.
The girl, no more than 8, was a brunette, small, willowy and talking animatedly to Nat, holding a modified machine pistol in her hands. "Hey Nat whose this?" Catching the girl's eye, I nodded, smiling. "Aden." As soon as we made eye contact, she looked away and seemed to shrink in on herself.
Shy thing.
"Lilly."
Turning back to Nat, "Do you want to stay?" Seeing her nod, I started to drag Jess away, "Come on, let's go to those last stalls you wanted."
"Noo Aden, I want to stay." she said, pouting.
"Let her have some privacy; the kids' parents are in the back, so it's safe." I recognise the nomad sign, and since they were at the market, they were legit. The Stag Dancers took their jobs seriously. Anything that affected its rep found itself crushed ruthlessly.
By the time we had toured the last dozen or so stalls and grabbed some food, almost an hour had passed, but when we got back, they were still in deep conversation, which was a pleasant surprise. Nat was normally a poor conversationalist with most people.
Not to say she couldn’t. She had a talent to get to the heart of something or make you feel heard. She just didn’t speak unless she had something to say.
The same could not be said for her sister.
“Nat! Nat! Look at this. This food is preem. Here, try some.” Jess said, bouncing up to her, waving the street food at her.
The girl looked startled and ducked behind Nat, her head poking cutely around her shoulder.
Nat meanwhile, expertly ignored Jess, well used to her antics.
"Okay Nat, time we headed on out." I said as I reached her, pulling Jess back.
Nat turned her best begging face to me. "Noo, please can we stay a bit longer?"
I would not break before the puppy dog eyes. Hold strong Aden.
"Sorry. It will start to get dark soon. However, why don’t you give her your agent info and maybe we can meet up tomorrow. Assuming you are still here then." I asked, having seen Lilly's parents start to make their way over.
"We will be here tomorrow, but you will need to meet us here unfortunately." The man said.
--
For once it was Nat dragging us along the next day. Normally, that role was Jess's, but it was endearing how excited she was. She barely got any sleep last night, spending it all messaging Lilly. She was still going strong when I went to sleep having finished making some calls and doing some research to make sure Lilly and her family were all above board. Thankfully, they were, as I had never seen her hit it off this well with anyone. I think there might be people in our gang she hadn't said more than 10 words to.
Laughing, I allowed myself to be pulled forward. "Slow down, we are almost there."
There were barely any people around at this time in the morning. The market was still going on and would for a few more days, but rather than follow the few people browsing the market, we cut across and made our way straight to Lilly's stall. As it came into sight, Nat sped on ahead and rushed over to hug Lilly.
I exchanged grins with the woman standing behind Lilly. Cutting over the excited babbling they were both doing, I said. "Hi Lilly, glad we could make it today. Mrs Steele." The father was at the stall sorting out a buyer further down the table.
The woman moved forward to shake my hand with a firm grip. "Please call me Helena. You can take your friends to our truck if you want, sweetie."
The excited babbling intensified as Lilly thanked Helena and dragged Nat off. I grabbed Jess and pulled her back. "Leave them 2 alone for a bit."
Helena nodded, smiling pleased at me. "Thank you. I haven't seen Lilly take to someone this quickly in quite some time."
"Same for our Nat, anyway, we will leave you to it. When do you finish up?" I asked, looking over at their stall. They still had a steady stream of customers passing through, but the table seemed much barer than yesterday.
"We got rid of most of our stuff yesterday. So I expect mid-afternoon."
“Cool. Come on Jess, let's go and have a wander." Before dragging the pouting girl behind me. She quickly got into the window shopping and was back to her chatty self in no time. Which left me following in her wake as she flitted from stall to stall.
I received a constant ping from Nat’s agent letting me know all was okay. It was the only reason I allowed her to go off on her own. That and they were going to the Crystal Palace, a massive nomad camp not far from the market.
She would be safe there.
Even having looked around yesterday, there were still loads of things I'd missed and even some new stalls, so we had plenty to see. But I was most definitely thankful when I got a message from Helena that they were closing up and to head home.
Not that we were far from their stall anyway. We had passed near it several times to make sure they were still there. If they had looked like they were packing up and not told us, well… I wasn’t sure what I would have done. But telling Nat to get out would have been the minimum.
We pitched in on deconstructing their area.
They'd sold the last of their goods for this stop, so no longer needed it. With tables in hand, we got to see the back of the market, not somewhere we would normally be allowed. The walk felt longer than it should have. The solid wooden tables were awkward as fuck to carry, and a few blocks later, I was glad the camp came into view.
The huge field had permanent and semi-permanent spots that most Nomads lived in when near South London. Or just London in general. It had once been the Crystal Palace, and even if not much of it remained, some buildings had survived and the name had stayed.
Around the nomad camp were barricades funnelling everyone into the entrances. Although camp was a bit of a misnomer. It was dozens, if not 100s of camps where each nomad clan had their own little blocked off areas.
I paused to admire the sea of vehicles, all in different shapes and styles. Some heavily armed, some not. Large converted lorries and bikes. All mixed in clumps with their own clans or families. Each of these smaller camps also had clear security, even with the already present security lining the edge of the entire compound. Not surprising, vehicles in the UK were expensive and a rare commodity, so there were always some glitch-brained gonk willing to try their luck.
Most of the car factories were abroad by this point and with the UK not in the EEC, it was a nightmare to get them in, driving up their costs. Most vehicles were exclusively nomads or the rich, although there were still roving biker gangs in London.
For that reason, most used public transport to get around, decreasing the need for a personal car. There were 1000s of Transit Rats, with their vans and lorries if you needed to move something.
Walking through the camp, we finally came to a huge campervan. The heavily armoured sides were polished to an almost mirror finish, with clear turrets all along it. I nodded at the spacing, unable to see a gap in the coverage. Although the back and front had less than I expected.
The sides had been moved out and were standing on stilts, increasing the size of the rooms. Next to this was a locked-up armoured and turreted trailer. There were also several armoured trucks and other campervans, although less armoured than the Steeles' own.
A handful of Jeff and Helenas nomad clan relaxed around camp. I didn’t have a clear number of how large the clan was, but I knew it had at least 40 to 50 people. But it made sense; most of them weren't at camp. They were probably off trading, finding or on gigs.
Jeff waved to the floor by a truck. "Pop it all here next to the trailer, we will sort it out later.
Moaning with pleasure, I stood having offloaded the table to the floor, stretching my back. I couldn’t wait for cyberware or at least growing to make that easier.
"Thanks, go sit at the table. Jeff, can you grab the refreshment?" Helene said, pointing at a lightweight metal table and chairs in front of the camper.
Sighing, I settled into the surprisingly sturdy chair and stretched out. God my feet were sore. I had hoped spending ages on my feet regularly would stop that, but no. I laughed as I saw the almost vibrating Jess. "Go on then, you can go to Nat. But give them space!" I shouted after her as she vanished into the caravan.
I made small talk as the table was covered with a variety of tasty-looking snacks, rather than the terrible kibble we usually had. I suppose that confirmed nomads ate better food than us city folks.
As they both settled down, I got a proper look at my 2 hosts. Helena, tall, at least 5,11 and in obvious good shape with corded muscle, but was gloriously curvy. And that cleavage. It had been distracting me the whole journey back. Even now, I was forcing myself to keep looking at her face and not take a sneak peek. Unlike her daughter, she was blond, bleached almost platinum by the sun, with small laugh lines starting to form at her blue-green eyes.
Jeff was short but solid, the quintessential dad bod. A layer of fat was starting to cover his hardened muscles from a lifetime of labour. Other than that, the word I would use to describe him was brown. Brown eyes, brown hair and deeply tanned skin that spoke of a lifetime in the outdoors.
But he had a presence about him. People straightened up when he moved through the camp, with dozens of people coming out to greet him as we passed their camps. It spoke of a deep respect and a wide network. Even the Stag Dancers guards nodded respectfully to him as we passed.
They were both dressed in functional but bright clothes, decorated with feathers and small animal bones. Much of it threaded into their hair.
I didn’t know much about nomad culture, but it seemed a pretty common look judging by the other people I saw on the walk through the camp.
Grabbing a bowl of snacks, I settled back into my chair. "Thanks for letting Nat stay. She doesn’t normally click with people like she has with Lilly."
Jeff took a sip of his beer. "It has been our pleasure, Lilly's the same. This is the most excited we have seen her in a long time. So tell us about your… family?
"Yeah family, maybe not by blood, but those girls are my sisters. Not much to really tell to be honest. Lost our parents young. Met in an orphanage run by the remnants of the MLA programmes. Didn’t like where it was heading, so we left. We were just lucky to fall in with the Grid Rats, a yogang, who are an affiliate of our local guardian gang. And we have been with them ever since."
"But that’s not the full story, is it?" Jeff prompted, before clarifying when I sent him a confused look. "I can see it in the way you all walk, your equipment and how you move around as a group. You’ve been trained. Army, I would guess. I can also see the armour underneath your jackets."
Sharp, not many people had noticed that. Our gang mates certainly hadn't. To be able to pick all that up in the short time we'd been together…
I shrugged him off. I certainly wasn’t going to give him deets. Not this early. "Yeah we've been lucky. I netrun for the firm so we get a bigger cut."
"Right, ‘Lucky'." Helena said, clearly not fully believing me.
I had told the truth in my opinion. We had been very lucky to get the chance we did. I made sure we all capitalised on them, but the girls had jumped onto the opportunities as well. "What about you 2? What are your stories? Those feathers mean you follow paganism, right?"
"About as normal as yours." Jeff said with a chuckle. "It's shamanism, picked it up when I was with the Sacred Hoop. But my family split off to create our own troop, creatively called the Steelies. My grandfather started it with him and his extended family during the Great Migration."
That wasn’t a name I recognised, and I had done a fair amount of reading. "The what?"
"It is what we call the exodus of the people leaving the cities and starting to become travellers. Or what is now called nomads. I currently lead the family clan and help out where I can, normally as a mechanic."
Snorting, Helena put in, "I think he has a similar problem to you Aden. Modesty. Jeff is a whiz mechanic, which he has thankfully passed down to Lilly. And our 'small clan' is one of the best-connected nomad troops I know of. With strong connections to the Mannannan Bairn out east, all the way to the Pendragons out in whales. That plus our good relations with the Triple Monn clan and Ravens an Rats, we are never hurt for work."
They smiled for a moment into each other's eyes before Jeff said. "Maybe I downplayed myself a bit. But go on Helena, your turn and don’t be modest."
Snorting, she said. "When have you ever known me to be modest. I fill in with most odd jobs, but where I really help is as a doctor."
My eyes lit up with interest, and I leaned forward. "What sort of doctor?"
"Probably not the one you are thinking of. My doctorate was in Genomic Medicine and Synthesis. However over the years I have trained as a nurse and then yes become a good ripperdoc."
"How did you learn that?" I asked eagerly. I had found very little information on how to actually learn. Apart from paying to go to a Uni or on a course which costs outrageous amounts of eddies, or locked you into a terrible contract. It was basically forced servitude in all but name.
With the small print and the many clauses and hidden catches, I doubted anyone ever escaped from the contract, not to mention the stuff I almost certainly missed.
"I learned at one of the Triple Moon run universities. As well as going on a few courses. There used to be actual qualifications and a database for them. Like Cyberware Technicians. With the fall of the Net that has long gone out of fashion and those sorts of qualifications have fallen by the wayside for most people."
That was slightly disappointing. Feeling slightly disheartened that it was going to be so hard to learn. I changed the topic.
"How did you 2 meet?" I immediately knew I had put my foot in it when both their faces sort of blanked into unreadable masks. "Sorr..."
"No don’t worry, how were you to know?" Jeff said, waving away my apology. "We met at a bad time in both our lives. It was during the height of the conflict between the nomads and the MLA. Both our parents were killed during an attack. They accused us of rioting. It was a civilian tent city, barely a handful of guns between us." He said bitterly, shaking his head. I glanced down at the creaking beer bottle in his hand.
Helena rested a hand on his arm, smiling at him. "I was lucky that when the smoke cleared, Jeff and the remains of his family allowed me to join."
Smiling, I quickly directed the conversation to happier things and spent the next few hours chatting. Occasionally seeing the girls as they came out to get snacks before racing off inside the caravan again.
"You look after them a lot, don’t you?" Helena said after the 3rd time Jess had come out to check I was still there.
"I am not sure I would have made it without them."
"But they look to you."
Shrugging, slightly embarrassed, I checked my agent again before calling the girl. "5 minutes before we need to delta!" I heard the stampede of feet as they came out to beg for more time, but I held strong. I wouldn’t risk going home in the dark.
Lilly climbed up onto Helena's lap. "When can I see them again, Mum?"
She shared a glance with Jeff, silently communicating. "Not before we need to move on, sweetie. We are going to be busy for the next few days and then we are off. But you can keep in touch and we will be back next month."
Lilly looked ready for tears. "Can't I go to them tomorrow. I want to see their home. It sounds so comfy."
That’s one word for it and not the one I would have used.
Time to put a stop to that. "I don’t think that would be a good idea. Out here it is fairly safe with all the nomad security, but further in the city, it wouldn't be safe. Maybe in a few years you can come and stay the night." I said before, Helena or Jeff had a chance too.
I did not want to have to worry about someone else on the journey home. Especially not someone as cute as she was.
"Yeah in the future I am sure you can go and stay." Jeff said, nodding at me, clearly relieved that I shot that idea down immediately.
"Honey, hop off a second," Helena said as she passed Lilly to Jeff, then stood and made her way inside. We stood around awkwardly for a few minutes as I sent a questioningly raised eyebrow in Jeff's direction, but he just shrugged.
Almost 5 minutes later we finally heard her approaching, stepping out with a large datashard in hand. "Here have this."
"What is it?" I said, taking it from her. My eyebrows raised in surprise. This was a good datashard. Able to hold far more than my chips.
"I saw your interest on ripper docs. In there is all the foundational knowledge I needed when I started to learn how to do it myself. There is basic and advanced biology, cyberware principles, and so on. Once you learn all that, there are some more advanced materials, but that will set you on the right path. The main thing you will need is experience, which I won't be able to help you with unfortunately."
I was stunned, my mouth hanging open in surprise. Then it immediately turned into what her angle was. No one gave out anything for free; they had to have a reason. Then I was reminded of a little girl who came up to me, bold as brass and asked if I wanted to be friends with her and her sister.
It was how I first met Jess.
Willing to take a small leap of faith this time, although I would check it before loading it onto my terminal. "No, don’t worry, this is already too much. Thank you, I will keep it safe."
Waving her hand dismissively, "Don’t worry about it, those are just copies and I don’t need the datashard back."
"Then thank you!" Not trusting myself to say more than that, as I was feeling surprisingly emotional. No idea why.
But that can be thought of later.
Having said our goodbyes and received a tentative hug from Lilly, we set off home with Nat chattering away on all the interesting things she had seen.
Adorable.
I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. I loved seeing her this happy.